For early devotees of leather, rubber and vinyl
fetish wear, ''Atomage'' magazine was the underground
bible of the 1970s. Founded, designed and published by
the English designer John Sutcliffe as a platform for
his extraordinary talents as a manufacturer of
weatherproofs for lady pillion riders, it quickly became
a rallying point for explorers of every kind of
fledgling clothing scene, functioning as both an
instruction manual and a mirror. The experimental
clothing showcased in its pages, including items made by
the readers themselves, transformed a passion for a
sexual proclivity into a cult phenomenon. From
motorbiking and mask-wearing, to mudlarking and wading
worship, ''Atomage'' covered every conceivable variant
on and use for fetish wear. The amateur photographs
reproduced here reflect a golden age of DIY enthusiasm,
before fetish became the industry it is today, and
inadvertently depict a suburbia from which dressing for
pleasure was a necessary escape. The outrageous costumes
found in ''Atomage'' also served as inspiration to a
then-new generation of fashion designers such as
Vivienne Westwood, and many of these costumes have since
been acquired by high-end collections. Compiling the
most astonishing imagery from all 32 issues of this now
extremely rare and sought after cult magazine,
''Dressing for Pleasure'' illustrates not just
Sutcliffe's exceptional designs, but also, through their
own photography and writings, the fantasies and desires
of the ''Atomage'' followers. |
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